WASHINGTON — A private investor from California appears to be the culprit behind the “Girls Gone Wild” incident for U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor.
In a letter faxed to Pryor, Chad Brownstein confessed that he had initiated the charitable auction of a summer internship in the Arkansas Democrat’s office to benefit the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles.
“I am writing to apologize for any embarrassment that I may have caused,” wrote Brownstein.
Pryor on Wednesday had asked the FBI to investigate after “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis issued a press release Wednesday claiming that a four-week summer internship to Pryor’s office would be part of a prize package for the winner of his reality show, “The Search for the Hottest Girl in America.”
Francis claimed he purchased the internship during a private auction last weekend to benefit a Los Angeles-based temple. Pryor denied that his office had authorized any auction and asked for the FBI to fully investigate who perpetrated the fraud.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Brownstein explained in his letter that he had suggested including in the temple’s charity auction an unpaid month-long summer internship for a high school student with Pryor’s office, pending approval.
“I didn’t realize that the item would be posted before I had a chance to check with your office. Nor did I realize that it would be posted without the caveat that the person would have to be approved. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication,” Brownstein wrote.
Brownstein said he picked Pryor because he knew he had visited the temple. A July 2008 temple bulletin included a lengthy article on Pryor’s visit to the temple as a guest of Brownstein.
Brownstein said that the Temple received a check but did not cash it and has since returned it. Brownstein also denied – as had been reported on one Arkansas blog – that his father, Norm Brownstein, or his father’s law firm, had something to do with the auction.
“I did this on my own,” he said.
Brownstein’s father is the head of the Washington, D.C.-based Brownstein Hyatt Lobbying firm.
Pryor has received $7,000 in campaign contributions from the Brownstein family between 2002 and 2008, including: Norm and wife, Ruth, Chad and wife, Cassandra, and Drew, Chad’s brother.
Drew Brownstein, an ex-hedge fund chief in Denver, was sentenced in January to a year and a day in prison and ordered to forfeit $2.44 million made from illegal insider trades, according to the Denver Post.